ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The city of Rochester filed a petition to the state Supreme Court in Monroe County last Thursday, asking for a warehouse to be vacated after a major fire there two months ago.
The petition targets Pallet Express’ new warehouse on Buffalo Road. The city says the warehouse poses a fire and safety risk, and doesn’t want a repeat of what happened at its other location back in June, when a five-alarm fire broke out at the location on Lyell Avenue.
What the paperwork says
According to court papers, the warehouse has inadequate fire alarm and suppression systems. The building also contains combustible materials, including wooden pallets.
“And so, given that we just had a fire like this two months ago, it would not be prudent to have a pallet company operate in a building that doesn’t have a proper fire suppression system,” said Mike Furlano, the City of Rochester’s property attorney. “We’re trying to avoid unnecessary demolition, unnecessary fires, because you put everybody at risk.”
A look at the timeline
The five-alarm fire at the location on Lyell Avenue happened back in June. But the court paperwork shows Rochester firefighters were called to the building in January 2025. That’s when the owner said they would get the suppression systems fixed.
A few months later, the city went to inspect the warehouse, and found the fire sprinklers still not fixed.
The from November 2025 to April 2026, the city found combustible materials inside the warehouse.
“The city first started by issuing notices and orders and violations which require the owner to comply and remedy. The city has issued numerous tickets, both municipal code tickets and fire violation tickets, and there was no compliance there. And so then the city issued a vacate order. The owner and the businesses did not comply with that as well,” said Furlano.
Furlano says if the court orders compliance and the owner doesn’t come through, they could face fines and potentially jail time. So, how long could this play out for? That depends on the court.
The city’s attorney says its taking the court order route rather than shutting down the building so the owner can go through due process.
News10NBC reached out to both Pallet Express and the owner of the warehouse. So far, there has been no response. When we hear back, this story will be updated.
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